RACHEL MAIRS

Acrostich Inscriptions at Kalabsha

(Roman Talmis):
Cultural Identities and Literary Games
Cet hiver (1893-1894) jai franchi la premire cataracte dans la dahabieh
dun ami et jai fait, sans me presser, le voyage de Ouadi Halfa, aller et
retour. cette occasion jeus le bonheur de compter le professeur Mahaffy
parmi mes compagnons de route, et nous nous aidmes mutuellement
copier un grand nombre dinscriptions grecques, les unes indites, les
autres dj copies et publies, mais souvent dune manire dfectueuse
(Sayce 1894, 284).

The route of Sayce and Mahaffys inscription-copying pleasure trip of

the winter of 1893-1894 is still followed by cruise boats taking tourists
from Aswan, ancient Elephantine, to the temple of Ramesses II at Abu
Simbel, around 230 km to the south. It is even possible for those with
the time and money to make the voyage in a refurbished nineteenthcentury dahabieh, or traditional Nile sailing vessel. Many of the buildings
from which they copied these inscriptions, however, have since either
been submerged under the waters of Lake Nasser, or dismantled and
rebuilt above the flood line in the UNESCO rescue campaigns which
accompanied the construction of the High Dam at Aswan (1960-: Hassan
2007). For anyone who wishes to study these inscriptions, going back and
checking the text against the original stone is therefore difficult or impossible. Their content and literary style nevertheless allows us to restore
something of their ancient context, on the southern fringes of the Roman
Empire, and of the sphere of Greek and Latin literary culture.
The Roman garrison town at Talmis (modern Kalabsha), 50 km south
of the Niles first cataract, was the site of an important temple to the
Nubian god Mandoulis. An earlier, Ptolemaic temple was replaced by a
grand Roman construction, begun under Augustus and completed under
Vespasian (Gauthier 1911/1914; Curto et al. 1965). The motivation for
the construction of this temple, and for the imperial authorities continued
Chronique dgypte LXXXVI (2011), fasc. 171-172 doi: 10.1484/J.CDE.1.102493

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interest in it, appears to have been political, with the goal of creating a
common holy place for the Roman military and the nomads they were
stationed there to control (Nock 1934, 53-54; Frankfurter 1998, 108).
Mandoulis was equated with the Graeco-Roman Apollo, and it is in this
guise that he appears frequently in the temples Greek and Latin inscriptions. As well as soldiers from the local garrison, pilgrims, some of
whom had travelled over great distances, left dedicatory inscriptions on
the walls of the temple, a few of which are of considerable literary
sophistication. The majority of these inscriptions are in Greek, a smaller
number in Latin, but there is little or no Demotic Egyptian.(1) I use the
term inscription for the sake of convenience, although not all of the
texts discussed here were actually incised into stone. I avoid graffito,
since this term is applied by some solely to texts made outside formal,
institutionalised epigraphic contexts, or even surreptitiously (on the distinction between inscriptions and graffiti, see Baird - Taylor 2010). In
1961, the Kalabsha temple was dismantled and relocated closer to Aswan.
Unfortunately, two of the inscriptions discussed here, which were written
in red ink by a Roman soldier named Paccius Maximus, are no longer
visible.
No fewer than three of the inscriptions at Kalabsha two Greek
(I. Mtr. 168 and 169) and one Latin (CIL III 77) contain acrostichs
spelling out the name of their authors or dedicators.(2) One of the Greek
inscriptions (I. Mtr. 169) contains a further word puzzle, where a cryptic
instruction to count two times two hundred, and twenty-one gives the
sum of the numerical values of the letters in the dedicators name. Another
Roman left a double acrostich inscription in Greek downstream at Philae
(IG Philae 143). Acrostich inscriptions especially epitaphs or short
dedications which spell out the names of the author or person commemorated are not uncommon in the Graeco-Roman world (see briefly
Courtney 1990, 3-7). In Egypt, the best-known examples are perhaps the
bilingual Demotic-Greek acrostich texts on the Stela of Moschion
(Vleeming 2001; Brunsch 1979, 1999-209). But this concentration of four
comparatively lengthy, complex and literary examples at the southern
(1) On the predominance of Greek at Kalabsha, and in dedications at other pilgrimage
sites in Roman Egypt, as well as for a brief overview of epigraphic practice at Kalabsha,
see Adams 2003, 580-583.
(2) Since this paper will principally be concerned with examples in Greek, I have
thought it most appropriate to use the etymological spelling acrostich, although both
acrostich and acrostic are acceptable English forms.

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frontier of the Roman Empire is of interest, not just from the perspective
of dedicatory and epigraphic practice at Kalabsha and Philae, but also
from a cultural and linguistic point of view. Who were the authors of
these inscriptions, and what did they seek to achieve by demonstrating
their talent for word play on the walls of these temples?
PACCIUS MAXIMUS (KALABSHA)
A Roman decurion named Paccius Maximus was the author of two of
the Kalabsha acrostich inscriptions (I. Mtr. 168 and 169; the reader is
referred to Bernand 1969a for further bibliographical references, especially to early reports of the inscriptions). A third inscription from Kalabsha, made before his promotion to decurion, shows that he belonged to the
Legio III Cyrenaica, and dates his presence at Kalabsha to the first century AD (Wagner 1993; Bernand 1969a, 595, had been able to propose
only a broader dating). This same Paccius Maximus also left a dedicatory
inscription at the temple of Sarapis at Maharaqqa (CIG 5119; on the man
and his inscriptions, see Burstein 1998 and Burstein 1999-2000). There
has been some speculation over Maximus ethnic background, with the
suggestion that he was a Nubian having gained some currency. The first
of his acrostich inscriptions inscriptions was written in red on the wall of
the southern portico of the temple. It is known as the Vision of Maximus, and is a long and very personal poem in a combination of three
different meters (Sotadeans, pentameters and hexameters):
1

10

makrion t bjn remjv tpon saqrsai,

ri t poqeinn cuxv pnem panenai,
zna moi biot per frna pntoqen doneto,
stora kakjv mautn ok xwn legxon,
mstjn tte kkljske fsiv pnon gewrgen
sofv tt g poiklon rmohon oidn,
semnn p qen kwtlon pituxn njma.
dlon te qeov restn rgheto Mosa,
Elkwni xlov nqemon petnaza kmon
ka tte m tiv pnou muxv rqise fresqai,
lgon pfobon fantasjv nar trapnai
pnov d me l<z>av taxn pekmise f[ljn g]n
eqroiv dkoun gr potamo sma po[lo]ein,
kanov p Nlou glukero dasi pros[j]nv

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15

20

25

30

35

mjn d semnn Mousn Kallipeian

nu[m]fav ma psaiv ms<s>jn kmon edein
Elldov ti kg brax lecanon nomhwn,
graptn p sofv pneusa cuxv mou njma
bdw d tiv ofia kat mlov dmav donjqev,
rmogn mlei sunergn pekloun xarttein,
cgon llotroiv qesin polipn djlon.
rx d m kljhen t sofn pjma lzai
lamprv tte Mndouliv bj mgav p Olmpou,
qlgwn barbarikn lzin p Aqipwn,
ka glukern speusen f Ellda mosan esai,
lampr parea frwn ka deziv Isidi banwn,
Rwmawn megqei dzan gallmenov,
mantik puqiwn te d qev Olmpoio
v bov nqrpoiv proormenov zqen axe,
v mar ka nz se sbei, rai d ma psai,
ka kalous se Breiq ka Mndoulin sunomamouv,
stra qen psjma kat orann ntllonta.
ka tde soi stexonta xarssein m atv lezav
ka sof grmmata psin qwpetwv sorsqai.
------------------------------------[ekosi] ka dus tov prtoiv grmmasi peiqmenov.

When I had come to gaze on this blessed place of peace,

And to let wander free in the air the inspiration desired by my soul,
a way of life strange to me stirred my mind from all sides.
As I could not convict myself of any evil,
my nature urged me to cultivate mystic toil.
In my wisdom I then composed a complex song,
having received from the gods a holy and expressive idea.
When it was clear that the Muse had accomplished something pleasing to the
gods,
I shook out my festival song, like the flower of a green shoot on Helicon.
Then a cave enticed my to enter and sleep,
although I was a little afraid to yield to a dream of fantasy.
Sleep picked me up and swiftly bore me away to a dear land.
I seemed to be gently washing my body in the flowing streams of a river
with the bountiful waters of the sweet Nile.
I imagined that Calliope, a holy member of the Muses,
sang together with all the nymphs a sacred song.
Thinking there still remained a bit of Greece,
I set down in written form the idea which my wise soul had inspired in me.

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Just as one moving his body in time to music beaten by a staff,

I summoned rhythm as a partner for the inscription of my song,
leaving those of a critical bent little reason for blame.
The leader urged me to speak my clever poem.
Then great Mandoulis, glorious, came down from Olympus.
He charmed away the barbaric speech of the Aithiopians
and urged me to sing in sweet Greek verse.
He came with brilliant cheeks on the right hand of Isis,
exulting in his greatness and the glory of the Romans,
and uttering Pythian oracles like an Olympian god.
You declared how because of you men can look forward to a livelihood,
how day and night and all the seasons revere you
and call you Breith and Mandoulis, fraternal gods,
stars who rise as a sign of the gods in heaven.
And you yourself told me to inscribe these clever words,
in order that they be viewed by all without flattery.
---------------------------------[ - - - ] trusting in the first twenty-two letters.
(I. Mtr. 168; trans. after Burstein 1997, 66-68.)

The first twenty-two letters to which the readers attention is directed

spell out M-A-Z-I-M-O-S-D-E-K-O-U-R-I-W-N-E-G-R-A-C-A (Mzimov dekourwn graca): Maximus, a Decurion, wrote (it / me). In
this poem, Greece and Greek culture are the benchmark of civilisation, the
Romans are powerful and glorious, and the Aithiopians (for which read
the local peoples of Nubia) barbaric. But what was Maximus relation to
these various cultural groups? He was a decurion in the Roman army and
the names Paccius and Maximus are Roman although a Roman name
in the Roman army by no means indicates anything much about its bearer.
As well as his attachment to Greek literary culture, the poem is full of
references to gods or religious matters which are conspicuously Greek:
the Muses, Helicon, Calliope, Olympus, the Pythian oracle at Delphi.
Unlike Apollo, who can stand for Mandoulis, these particular names and
terms are too culture-specific simply to be Greek interpretations of Nubian
or Egyptian religious references. The argument that Maximus was a
Nubian rests on the lines He charmed away the barbaric speech of the
Aithiopians / and urged me to sing in sweet Greek verse, as well as a
perception that his Greek is stilted and sub-standard (Bernand 1969a, 598;
Adams 2003, 581). But at no point does Maximus specify that the barbaric
Aithiopian speech is his own, rather than that which he hears around him.
The question of the quality of the Greek of the inscription, and his
choice of compositional form, requires a little more consideration. The
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perception that Maximus Greek is in some way deficient stands in contrast to his own obvious pride in his clever poem (sofn pjma) and
its clever words (sof grmmata), and this is perhaps where the crux
of the matter lies. From the point of view of literary elegance, Maximus
verse does indeed fall flat in a number of places. He has sacrificed a certain amount in the way of style and fluency in order to accommodate his
words to the double strictures of three different meters (also doubtless
chosen to emphasise his gift for word play) and the acrostich form.
Indeed, as Weill pointed out in his commentary to Sayces (1894) transcription of the poem, the verse reads like a list of individual parallel
phrases, with little flow from line to line: Notre pote thiopien avait de
loreille; ses vers sont corrects, malheureusement son style ne lest gure.
Malgr linspiration du dieu Mandoulis, sa lziv est reste barbarik.
Il juxtapose une longue suite de phrases parallles, gnralement comprises en un seul vers, sans les lier par des conjonctions. Ses intentions
potiques sont trahies par lignorance de la langue: aussi ses vers boursoufls et obscurs deviennent-ils parfois peine intelligibles. Cependant
il ne se doute pas de ce qui lui manque et sa vanit nave amuse. (Weill
in Sayce 1894, 289.)
Weills assessment is patronising and snide and, perhaps significantly,
he did not notice the acrostich which in part explains Maximus clunky
phraseology. It would be hard for an acrostich inscription, in which the
choice and placement of the first word of the line takes precedence, not to
seem mannered. Even in modern languages it is difficult to think of examples which are good verse as opposed to simply clever verse although
the acrostich rhymes which are a favoured motif of the poet and novelist
Vikram Seth have a certain elegant simplicity (there are several examples
in A Suitable Boy [1993] and An Equal Music [1999]). In the ancient
world, the Greek epitaph of Sophytos from Kandahar is a good example
of an acrostich inscription in which both style and structure aspire to and
achieve literary sophistication, perhaps even excessive sophistication
(Bernard et al. 2004). The same is true of the double acrostich of Catilius
at Philae (see further below). Weills objection seems to be in large part
to the fact that Maximus is pretentious and arriviste. We can certainly
view the poetMaximus as gauche and his literary jeux as affected if we so
choose, but the fact remains that his Greek is not actually bad. It contains none of the grammatical errors or irregularities of spelling which a
papyrologist would find unremarkable and perfectly acceptable in
Egyptian Greek of this period. Someone looking for examples of worse
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Greek in the documentary record of Hellenistic and Roman Egypt would

be spoilt for choice. Indeed, the whole notion of bad Greek in the papyri
is an unhelpful one, since Greek documents which to the modern eye are
appallingly bastardised may nevertheless have been written by individuals
whose functional command of the colloquial language was good, and who
were capable of making themselves understood in the contexts in which it
was necessary for them to do so (Fewster 2002, 233; Mairs - Martin
2008/2009, 57-58). If Maximus poem were written on papyrus and excavated in a town along the Nile valley, it would probably be regarded as
evidence for the education and literary sophistication of Greek provincial
elites. It is simply an attempt at a high literary style by a fluent user of
Greek which does not quite live up to its own aspirations.
The authorship of this inscription, and the techniques used to signpost
the acrostich and protest the poems literary quality, will be discussed in
the conclusion.
Maximus second inscription was also painted in red, on the eastern
portico of the temple (I. Mtr. 169, Bernand 1969a, 610-613; see also
Peek 1975). It is once again composed in a mixture of meters (hexameters
and pentameters), concluding in five lines of prose:

10

Pntot se mnsw (La)to[](v) (g)ne, P()qi(e) Apollon,

qantwn prokaqgelma ka() xrusxel(u) Pain.
Ka gr g par sov proqroiv lqon. ()p()neqson
krie, tv prok[p]v m n strati megla[v]
(g)r moi dojv k(g) l(oi)bav podsw
ofia qe meglw ka Isidi t basilss.
Spesw pntot g tov dus tn prokopn.
I de (na)gnnai ka tonoma to grcantov
dv tv diakosav c(f)ison ko(si) man.
T prosknjma to grcantov
ka to nagnntov smeron
par qe Mndouli.

At all times I celebrate you, son of Leto, Pythian Apollo,

Guide of the immortals and Paean of the golden lyre.
For I have come before your gates. Give me,
Lord, great successes in the army.
For if you give me them, I will give you libations,
Such as those due to a great god and to Isis the queen.
I will always make libations to both for these successes.

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To find out the name of the one who wrote this,

Count two times two hundred and twenty-one.
Act of dedication for the one who wrote it
And for the one who recognises it today
For the god Mandoulis.

This second poem has many similarities to the first: variation in meters
(in this case including a coda in prose); references to Greek gods as well as
to Isis and Mandoulis, gods of the temple at Talmis; and a structure in which
the poet prefers to use one-line clauses rather than letting the verse flow
from line to line. The acrostich in the first seven, verse, lines does not give
the name Maximus, but Paccius: P-A-K-K-I-O-S. It is the prose riddle
with which the inscription concludes which enables us to identify the dedicator as Maximus. Given the similarity in medium, content and structure, it
appears probable that this is the same Maximus as that of I. Mtr. 169.
The fact that Greek numerals are taken from letters of the alphabet
allows words to be given a numerical value. Four hundred and twenty-one
([2 x 200] + 21) is the sum of the letters in the name Maximus, using the
following values:
m
a
z
i
m
o
s

40
1
60
10
40
70
+ 200
= 421

As with Maximus other inscription, he leaves clues for the reader to

find the name of the author, and, like many such Greek proskunemata
(prayers of praise, for the benefit of the dedicator and/or named parties),
where the prayer to the god is held to be efficacious for the one who reads
it aloud as well as the original dedicator, Maximus promises a prize to
the one to solve the riddle.
JULIUS FAUSTINUS M[ -?] (KALABSHA)
The third acrostich inscription from the temple at Kalabsha is one of
the small number of the inscriptions from the site in Latin (CIL III 77 =
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CLE 271 = Courtney 1995, No. 26). Julius Faustinus dedicates a eulogy
of Hadrian to Apollo (= Mandoulis). The inscription dates to c. AD 134,
as may be inferred from the reference to Hadrian (emperor AD 117-138),
and to M. Petronius Mamertinus (prefect of Egypt AD 133-137). Mamertinus heard the colossi of Memnon on the Theban West Bank sing in AD
134 (CIL III 44 = Bernand - Bernand 1960, No. 40). He may then have
travelled as far south as Talmis, a visit which would have been described
in the broken portion of this inscription. Faustinus verse postdates the
inscriptions of Maximus, of the first century AD, and it is possible that he
was inspired by these to write in acrostich form.

10

Invicti venerandi ducis per saecula vellent

victrices Musae, Pallas, crinitus Apollo
laeta serenifico defundere carmina cael[o],
intemerata malas hominum set numina fr[u]d[es
iuriaque arcanis et perfida pectora curis
fugere. Hadriani tamen ad pia saecula verti
ausa peroccultas remeant rimata latebras
ut spirent cautes ac tempora prisca salute[nt;
sacra Mamertino sonuerunt praeside sig[na.
tum superum manifesta fides stetit: inclutu[s [X]
inachias sospes diti pede pressit harena[s.
namque inter celsi densata sedilia tem[pli,
incola quo plebes tectis effunditur at[
munera caeli[colum

The victorious Muses, Pallas and Apollo would have wished to pour down
happy verses from a clear sky during the august era of the invincible emperor,
but the undefiled deities fled from the wicked deceits of men and their quarrels and their hearts perfidious with secret preoccupations. Yet they dared to
turn back at the conscientious era of Hadrian, and they return searching out
hidden recesses so that stones may breathe and greet the [revived] olden
days; the sacred statue gave voice while Mamertinus was prefect. The manifest proof of the reliability of the gods was established; the noble < >, arrived
safely, pressed with enriching foot the sands protected by Isis. For amid the
thronged benches of the lofty temple, into which the neighbouring mob
poured from its (crowded?) dwellings, the gifts of the gods
(Text and translation: Courtney 1995, No. 26.)

The acrostich here reads I-V-L-I-I-F-A-U-S-T-I-N-I M-[], Of Julius

Faustinus M-, and the broken portion at the foot of the inscription unfortunately leaves only the initial M- of Faustinus cognomen.
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Faustinus verse, which is in hexameters, is less self-conscious than

those of Maximus. It is possible that the missing final lines contained a
reference to the acrostich, but Faustinus is not so preoccupied with his
own literary accomplishments. Scholarly opinion has been rather kinder to
him than to Maximus. He is especially skilled in the elegant juxtaposition
of noun-adjective phrases. Lines 3 and 9 are golden lines consisting of
two adjectives, two substantives and a verb which is, of course, a
standard of modern English Classical philology, not of ancient Latin literary style, but nonetheless creates a pleasing effect (Courtney 1995, 245246). Given the location of the inscription at Kalabsha, appropriate reference is again made to both Graeco-Roman deities and to Isis. The mention
of Apollo allows the reader to infer a reference to Mandoulis if they wish.
Whether the neighbouring mob are the local Nubian inhabitants of
Kalabsha it is hard to say. But it is affairs beyond Kalabsha, and involving
Roman imperial authority, which most concern Faustinus in the preserved
portion of the inscription. The supposed return of the gods to their temples
is presented as an achievement of the stability brought by Hadrian. The
visit of the Roman perfect Mamertinus to the colossi of Memnon to hear
them sing a highlight of any Roman tour of Egypt is recorded.
Faustinus does not give much additional information about himself, but
his use of Latin, Latin name, and praise of the Emperor and Prefect all
suggest strongly that he was present at Talmis in some official capacity.
He may have been an officer in one of the Roman military units stationed
there, but the mention of Mamertinus makes it far more likely that he was
in the service of the Prefect and part of his entourage on the occasion of
his (presumed) visit to Kalabsha.
CATILIUS (PHILAE)
Downstream from Kalabsha, at Philae, we find another Greek acrostich inscription on the southern pylon of the Isis temple (IG Philae 143;
Bernand 1969b, 85-91). This same Catilius wrote a number of other
inscriptions on the temple at Philae, one of which is dated to 8 March 7 BC
(IG Philae 142). This allows us to date his acrostich verse approximately, and to state that it is earlier in date than any of the acrostichs
from Kalabsha:
Km t etxnou fwtv stxon, fle, bma
tmion mpasav gmaqe ka xrisai

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10

litav storaiv litn pnon, ofia ppaigmai,

o ken mjnwn, oper fun gentou
to d kalo plsav, fjs, zne, xemata Nelou,
kairn xw fwnen xarete poll, Flai
nikmai ptraiv te ka oresin, katarktai
kg xw texein storikn selda
nostsav, ka dn Niknora ka gnov llo
rov katloipon xw toto gr sti tlov.

Stopping your worthy step, friend, examine me the line of a skillful mortal and grant simple stories the favour of a simple effort, so as to learn
how I was playfully made, without revealing in vain who is my creator.
After sailing the streams of the fair Nile, he says, stranger: This is the time
for me to cry: Many greetings, Philae! O cataracts, I yield to stones and to
mountains. I too have to craft an historical piece, having returned after having seen Nikanor and his family. I have a -ros left for this is the end.

The poem contains a double acrostich of Of Catilius son of (and alias)

Nikanor (Katilou to ka Niknorov; on this construction for the
patronymic, see also IG Philae 143, Bernand 1969b, 85). The first comprises the first syllables of each line (KA-TI-LI-OU-TOU-KAI-NIKA-NO-ROS), and the second the first and last letters (or diphthongs) of
each line (K-A-T-I-L-I-O-U-T-OU-K-AI-N-I-K-A-N-O-R-OS). Catilius patronymic is Greek, suggesting that he is Greek in origin but has
adopted a Roman name (see commentary to IG Philae 142: Bernand
1969b, 85). IG Philae 142, a verse in honour of the Emperor and of the
Prefect C. Turranius, gives a little more detail on his background: he
states that he has come to Philae from Alexandria, and that he is also
called Nikanor, which is the name of his father. There is a possibility that
he and his father may have been court poets in the entourage of Augustus, but this is impossible to verify (Bernand 1969b, 85, 88).
The suggestion that Catilius was a professional poet is an attractive
one, because this earlier piece is in an altogether different league to the
verses of Maximus and Faustinus. Thematically, some of the same ground
is covered. Like Maximus (I. Mtr. 168: bountiful waters of the sweet
Nile), Catilius makes an evocative reference to the Nile, on which both
temples of course stood. Philae and the cataracts are mentioned, but in
general Catilius composition has a less keen sense of place or religious
sentiment than the Kalabsha inscriptions. Catilius too makes reference to
the acrostich and to his own literary skill, although in this regard he is a
little more modest than Maximus. If we are to use fluid phraseology as a
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marker of poetic skill, as has been done for Maximus (although this is not
a standard to which Faustinus has been held), then this poem flows better.
The phrasing and choice of words is elegant (litav storav litn
pnon). Rather than just one acrostich, he manages to make two without
compromising anything much in the way of style.
It is in the wit and subtlety of his metatextual references to the structure
and form of the poem, however, where Catilius really stands apart. In
several places he intentionally employs words with a double meaning,
which it is difficult to replicate in English translation. This allows the
poem to be read in two different senses, depending upon whether or not
one recognises the acrostich. The line of a skillful mortal (t etxnou
fwtv stxon) may refer to the horizontal lines of the verse or to the two
vertical lines of the acrostich lines which, as it happens, are particularly carefully aligned in the physical inscription. Likewise the historical/
narrative piece (storikn selda) may refer to the verse, but here the
choice of vocabulary is still more ambiguous. A selv can be a column,
such as in a text on papyrus, and storikv may mean precise or accurate with, as ever with its cognate terms, implications of investigation. The acrostich itself has a double meaning, as we can tell from IG
Philae 142: Nikanor is both Catilius own alternate name, and the name
of his father. Even the reference to the composition of the acrostich is
witty, self-referential and even self-deprecating (I only have a -ros
left!), rather than direct. These techniques take the genre of the stop and
read me, friend Greek inscription and rework it in a manner which is
almost subversive.
AUTHORSHIP
It is not certain that these poems were composed and painted or
inscribed by the persons named in their acrostichs. The two inscriptions of
Maximus are painted in the same hand, a hand also recognised by Mahaffy
in the majority of texts from Talmis (Bernand 1969a, 591; Mahaffy 1894,
149-150). This demonstrates only that the same person (or persons who
had received identical scribal training) had responsibility for actually
marking the dedications up on the walls of the temple, and that therefore
the process went through some sort of official channel. Inscriptions may,
for example, have been made by a member of the temples priesthood in
return for a donation. Bernand sees une certaine parent dinspiration
in the texts from Kalabsha and suggests that vistors may have used the
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services of a professional poet in residence or lettered priest at the temple, or that they may have drawn on an established repertoire of acceptable formulae in their own compositions (Bernand 1969a, 591). As well as
being aided by a priest, it is not difficult to imagine a well-educated, erudite soldier in one of the companies stationed at Talmis acting, Cyrano de
Bergerac-style, as mouthpiece for his less eloquent friends. Both of these
scenarios are plausible and not mutually exclusive but we may
advance a few points in favour of the latter. Inscriptions or graffiti from
the same site often have much in common, even down to their phraseology. In the dedications to Pan left by travellers of the Hellenistic and
Roman periods near the Pharaonic temple at El Kanais, in the eastern
desert, the same basic formula is repeated over and over again (Bernand
1972). Writers at El Kanais show an awareness of the other texts surrounding theirs on the rockface, and there was a clear sense of the epigraphic done thing (Mairs 2010). The texts from the temple at Kalabsha
are in many cases much longer and more elaborate than the simple signatures or prayers at El Kanais, but the idea that dedicators to Mandoulis at
the same temple would express some of the same sentiments is hardly a
radical one.
SIGNPOSTING TECHNIQUES
More than one hand or literary voice may have been involved in the composition and execution of these inscriptions, but the best case for personal
authorship by the named dedicator is the obvious desire in these poems to
both claim authorship and make the reader aware of the authors cleverness
and personal skill. Each of the inscriptions discussed here goes to some
length to draw attention to the acrostichs or other word puzzles contained in
it, and some proudly refer to themselves as clever or complex. Greek
and Latin acrostichs are always self-conscious, and often contain hints to
point the reader in the direction of their hidden signatures. In their concern
that their literary skill and verbal cleverness should not go unappreciated,
sometimes their authors err in the direction of too much signposting rather
than too little. The acrostich epitaph of Sophytos from Kandahar mentioned
above, for example, repeats the letters of the acrostich in a separate column
in the left margin of the inscription, lest the reader should miss the point
(Bernard, Pinault - Rougemont 2004, 230-231, Fig. 1).
Among our inscriptions from the region of the first cataract, Maximus
draws the most specific and direct allusions to the acrostich structure of
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his inscriptions. I. Mtr. 168 concludes trusting in the first twenty-two

letters; a more appropriate translation might be trusting in the twentytwo first letters. Maximus tells the reader where to look, if not what to
look for. Maximus also dwells at some length on his own process of
poetic inspiration with divine help and the expressiveness and complexity of the results. He has composed and written down a complex
song (poiklon oidn) inspired by his wise soul (sofv cuxv
mou), which will leave the literary critics no point of complaint (cgon
llotroiv qesin polipn djlon). He is urged to speak his clever
poem (sofn pjma) aloud, presumably by some mortal companion or
superior. Then he receives encouragement from the divine, as Mandoulis
descends from Olympos a curious place to find a Nubian god, but in
the spirit of the broad-minded syncretism of cult and dedicatory practice
at Kalabsha and many other Egyptian temples of this period. Mandoulis
urges Maximus to sing in sweet Greek verse (glukern f Ellda
mosan), driving away barbaric Ethiopian speech whomsoever we
consider that barbaric speech to have belonged to. Finally, the spoken
and sung word is set down in writing: you yourself [Mandoulis] told me
to inscribe these clever verses (sof grmmata), in order that they be
viewed by all without flattery.
I. Mtr. 169, a shorter and more straightforwardly dedicatory verse, is
less self-conscious about its own literary merits, but contains a more complicated puzzle, and offers a prize for resolution of this puzzle: the one
who recognises (to nagnntov) will share in the benefits of the dedicatory prayer (prosknjma) to Mandoulis along with the author (to
grcantov). The name Paccius is given, unsignposted, in the acrostich.
The isopsephic puzzle to find the second part of the authors name, Maximus, is more explicitly phrased as a riddle. To find out the name of the
one who wrote this, Count two times two hundred and twenty-one. As
discussed above, this is the sum of the numerical values of the letters in
the Greek spelling of the name Maximos. To someone literate and
numerate in Greek the connection between letters and numbers will have
been much more intuitive than for a modern reader.
Faustinus and Catilius stand, in many ways, in very different places on
the spectrum of self-referential poetic indulgence. Faustinus, in the preserved section of his verse, makes no reference at all to the hidden acrostich or to his own skill. All praise is directed at Hadrian, and Faustinus in
general appears to be acting in a more professional capacity, as an agent
of Roman authority, than as a private dedicator keen to demonstrate his
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personal accomplishments. Catilius entire poem is an extended reference

to its hidden acrostichs, but the deliberate double meanings he employs,
and the subtlety of his references to his own skill and the poems structure, allow it to be read on a different level, simply as an elegant and witty
verse. This inscription, as was noted above, is especially clearly laid out
on the stone, and this in some manner may have allowed the presence of
the acrostich to be inferred more naturally, as part of the experience of the
readers first encounter with the verse.
Judging the literary skill, linguistic competence, and cultural or ethnic
backgrounds of the authors of these acrostich inscriptions is rather difficult. The artificiality of the exercise can itself suffice to make the poem
seem trite, overworked and laboured. The overt name-dropping of Greek
cultural and religious reference points can also lead to a suspicion that the
author is in some way insecure in his identity or of his education. Whatever ones judgement on their literary style and the inscriptions of
Maximus have been judged too harshly in this regard their command
of Greek or Latin is in no way defective. As was discussed above, modern
scholarly opinions of the quality of their language vary, and much seems
to depend on the commentators own taste and degree of tolerance for
highly stylised literary games in which substance may triumph over style.
Cultural and ethnic prejudice may also be a factor (Burstein 1999-2000,
48). The authors of all these inscriptions were, in my view, native-level
speakers of the language in which they wrote and had received a good
education in it whatever other languages they may or may not have
spoken. As well as the possibility that their authors may have spoken
Egyptian or a Nubian language, those Roman citizens or soldiers in
Roman service who inscribe in Greek at Roman-period pilgrimage or
tourist sites are often bilingual in Latin, but use Greek because this was
the preferred language for the epigraphic medium in these contexts. Their
knowledge of, or even preference for, Latin is betrayed in some cases by
interference (Adams 2003, 580). Paccius Maximus, I would suggest, is
far more likely to have been a Roman from elsewhere in the empire, or a
Romanised Egyptian, than a Nubian. Would a Nubian who has gone to
great effort to align himself with Greek literary culture and cultural reference points really draw attention to his own barbarism?
The especial concentration of these Greek and Latin acrostichs in
Roman temples around the first cataract might be interpreted as a desire to
express an attachment to Greek or Latin culture at the boundaries of
empire. But much of the reason for this apparent concentration is, in my
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view, simply the product of the presence of two important, and well-preserved and documented, Roman temples. These temples received heavy
official patronage and constant pilgrim and military traffic. Among the
people who visited the temples of Kalabsha and Philae in this way were a
large number of Roman military and civilian administrative personnel
who will have had a reasonable degree of literate education, and perhaps
have been driven in particular to reflect on their position at the boundaries
of empire. Their composition, or commissioning, of clever acrostich
verses is self-conscious, but intellectual pride is at least as important a
factor in this as cultural insecurity.
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University of Oxford

Rachel MAIRS

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